Friday, August 23, 2013

OMG Paris Pickpockets are Profiling

FT reports:
For years, Paris has traded on its reputation as the City of Light and even as the city of l’amour. But for a growing number of Chinese tourists, it is becoming the city of crime.

Chinese visitors are descending on Paris in record numbers and their lavish spending on luxury brands has made them an irresistible target for thieves. Petty crime between January and the end of June in one of the world’s most-visited cities jumped 7.8 per cent compared with the same period in 2012 – but it was up by more than 24 per cent when it came to Chinese tourists.

Jean-Francois Zhou, a tour operator based on the Champs-ElyseĆ©s, says that thieves see the hordes of Chinese as prime targets because they carry far more cash than visitors from other countries – in large part because of the significant fees involved in using their plastic cards abroad.
If caught, the pickpockets will probably get more time for profiling than for their thefts.

1 comment:

  1. Prostitutes in Hawaii (Waikiki) have done this for years except it wasn't stealing but targeting rich Asian businessmen for johns..

    ReplyDelete